As the game was winding down on Friday night my friend Bill Gorman (@TVGrimReaper on Twitter) and I were texting back and forth about how the rundowns would look on Monday’s sports talk shows.
“Golden State won’t lose the mythical $22 million!,” Bill texted me, referring to Darren Rovell’s story on how much money the Warriors stood to lose if they swept the Cavs.
I don’t know whether the $22 million is mythical. I thought it was a steaming pile of nonsense not because of factual accuracy (I have no idea) but because I fancy myself as being pretty good at the visualization thing.
I visualized that if I was a billionaire owner I’d much rather have the 4-4-4-4 feather in my cap/legacy and be perceived as stone-cold killers. That’d be worth way more than $22 million to me…If I was a billionaire owner.
But I’m not. So I reached out to Mark Cuban.
“I would rather have the 16-0,” Cuban said in response to the question of legacy versus extra playoff revenue. “I have all the money I need,” Cuban added. “I want more Mavs fans.”
From Cuban’s perspective it’s not all about revenue.
“I don’t price to maximize revenues. I price to expand our fan base and be affordable to as many as possible,” added Cuban.